Finding Virtue
by Yua-hime
Summary: AU Novelization. OC-Insert. It has been two and a half years since the Chosen Children left the Digital World and their partners behind. Now a new enemy is rising and three new Chosen Children must rise up to help defeat them. With the help of they original Chosen Children, will they be able to defeat this new enemy and save both worlds?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, I know I should be focusing on my other two fanfictions, but I can't work on just one project. Sometimes inspiration comes to me for another work even if I'm trying to focus on a different one. And sometimes I run into a snag that I can't work out immediately. When that happens, I've found it's best for me to work on something else that I can manage to get down on paper. That way I'm at least working on _something_.**

 **That being said, the other works do come before this one, but I can't control what I have inspiration for and what I don't. This is something I have found to be common throughout both fanfiction and in my original works. I have it on good authority, however (my creative writing professor, in fact) that it's normal to work on several projects at once and sometimes you finish a younger project before the first one you started, so I won't feel too bad about uploading this.**

 **IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS STORY!**

 **READ BEFORE CONTINUING WITH THE STORY!**

 **Now that I have your attention (or at least I hope I do) this story is an AU novelization of the 02 story line. I have changed aspects of the story due to logical errors found in the original concept and because certain aspects I didn't like about the original (such as everyone getting a digimon at the end of the show. That is definitely not happening, since it negates the necessity of having Chosen Children in the first place).**

 **However other changes are due to the existence of an OC. I've done my best to make her a part of the Digimon world and have made sure that her actions actually affect the plot. She doesn't just exist to be a carbon copy of one of the other characters. She won't be the one that takes out the final big bad. The entire story doesn't even revolve around her. Because her presence changes aspects of the plot, these changes will be explored. This means, even when my character is not there, I will be rewriting scenes from the episodes, because her existence has already changed the plot line. This chapter is a good indicator of how she will affect the characters and how scenes will change.**

 **If you hate OCs, don't read the story.**

 **Finally, I would like to point out that this story may be more brutal than the original. I'm going for realistic and if kids really did fight against super powered monsters, they would get hurt and they would feel it. This might make the work darker, so to speak, but really, I'm just trying to flesh it out for a teen/adult audience. I like realism and it's not like the characters can't get hurt in the original (They get knocked out by BlackWarGreymon at some point, after all).**

 **PS: The cover image for this story is Asuka Akiyama, my OC. This cover image may change, but I want to give you guys an idea of what she looks like.**

 **PPS: Sorry for any sudden changes in writing quality. Parts of this chapter and the next were written years ago, and although I have tried to edit them, I felt they were decent enough for me to leave without completely rewriting the stories.**

 **Now that all the important stuff is out of the way, you can get to the story after this brief disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.**

 **I do, however, own Asuka Akiyama, so don't steal her.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins Again**

Daisuke walked onto the school grounds in a rather chipper mood. It was the beginning of the school year, which he wasn't too happy about, but he would be able to see friends he hadn't spoken to much during the winter break. He started thinking about one friend in particular and a grin spread across his face.

"Hey Daisuke!"

Daisuke whipped his head around causing his wild maroon hair to fly every-which-way. Kuniyuki Shuuske was waving at him, hair windswept and eyes shining like silver.

"What's up, Kuniyuki?" Daisuke asked his friend, walking towards him.

"School doesn't start for a while yet, so we were going to play a quick game. We're odd though," Kuniyuki said pointing at the six people behind him. They were all members of the soccer team last year which Daisuke and Kuniyuki co-captained. They were hoping they still qualified this year. "What do you say?"

Daisuke grinned even wider, "Of course! You know I'm always up for a game!"

The group cheered and the eight boys ran off to play some soccer. It was a mild game, compared to what they usually played, since there were only four people on each team. This didn't bother them all that much – even the boys that were really competitive didn't mind – since they didn't want to get all sweaty just before the school day started.

Kintaro, a black haired brown eyed boy, kicked the ball hard and Daisuke ran for it. He jumped up and tried to knock it with his head, but it only clipped him and was redirected to the entrance of the school. Daisuke fell to the ground and turned to watch as the ball flew towards a student standing in the entryway. It looked like it was going to fly right over his head, but before it could, the kid jumped up and caught the ball.

Daisuke heaved himself up and ran over to the boy. He was several inches taller than Daisuke and had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. "Sorry about that," Daisuke said as he came to a stop in front of him. The guy stared at him rather intensely and Daisuke blinked a few times a bit confused by the behavior. Did he have something on his face or was the kid just weird?

Only a few seconds passed before the boy smiled and tossed the ball to Daisuke and spoke up, "Those are some pretty cool goggles."

Daisuke stared at him completely bewildered. It wasn't every day that some random person commented on his goggles. The odd staring before the comment only made it weirder. Before Daisuke could say anything he heard Kuniyuki call out to him, "Hey Daisuke, hurry up!"

Daisuke snapped out of his thoughts and quickly called out a thanks as he turned back towards the game and kicked the ball back to his friends. When the bell rang for the start of school he said a quick good-bye and ran to his class and let his mind wander back to the strange incident. When he made it to class, Daisuke saw one of his best friends and not-so-secret crush. She was only an inch or so shorter than Daisuke and had short brown hair and reddish brown eyes.

"Hikari, looks like we're in the same class again!" he said happily as he took a seat beside her.

Hikari looked up and smiled at him. "It's good to see you, Daisuke. How have you been? We really didn't see much of each other during the break, did we?"

"Yeah, we were both so busy," Daisuke groaned a little in disappointment, "I'm doing pretty well, though. Although something kind of weird did happen. I was playing some soccer and this guy, just out of the blue says my goggles were cool. I don't even know who he is... How have you been?"

Before Hikari could answer, someone plopped down in the seat next to Daisuke with a groan. "I am so _dead_ ," they complained.

Daisuke looked over to see a girl about Hikari's size with long, dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail, leaving only a few bangs to frame her face. She turned her head to look at him with sad, imploring blue eyes. Daisuke sighed. He knew she was about to ask him for a favor.

"What do you want, Asuka?" Daisuke asked with a resigned air.

Asuka let out a huff. "Well, you know that art project I've been working on?" Daisuke nodded. She had been trying to build a replica of the Imperial Palace for an art contest. She'd been hard at work the entire break. "Well, I was bringing it in to work on after school a bit – the art teacher, Miura-sensei said I could – and some guy bumped into me and knocked it out of my hands!"

Daisuke's eyes widened and he gaped a little. That had been a three month project.

"Did it get destroyed?" Hikari asked worriedly as she leaned around Daisuke to look at Asuka.

Asuka shook her head. "Not completely. Some guy helped catch it, but the roof came off. It's in pretty good shape, so I don't want to have to start over, but I'll need someone to hold it in place while I make the repairs."

Daisuke knew he couldn't say no after that. Asuka had spent a lot of spare time on it and had never asked for help. It was a solo contest, but with the deadline in a couple of weeks she didn't have nearly enough time to redo the roof and finish the details and painting.

"Alright, I'll help," he said and she gave him a huge hug.

"Thank you, thank you, _thank_ you!"

"Alright, settle down everyone," the teacher said as he walked in and everyone took their seats as roll call began. Once they were finished the teacher, Nagashi-sensei Daisuke remembered, gave an announcement, "We have a new student joining the school this year and he has been placed in this class. I want all of you to treat him well. You can come in now!"

Daisuke, who had been leaning on his desk in a bored manner, sat up straight when he saw who had come in. It was the strange kid he'd met outside. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hikari sit even straighter and her eyes go wide. "I'm Takeru Takaishi. It's nice to meet you all," he said with a slight bow.

"That's the kid that helped me," Asuka whispered, leaning in close and keeping her lips as motionless as possible.

"Why don't you take a seat next to Yagami," Mr. Nagashi said and Takaishi, looking rather pleased with the arrangement, sauntered up to his seat.

"Long time no see," he said as he sat down and took his hat off.

Hikari smiled brilliantly, "You got tall, didn't you?"

Daisuke frowned as he watched the two. They were obviously good friends and he felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach as they talked. It was jealousy. He did his best to ignore Asuka's eyes on him.

The end of school came and Daisuke was much less happy than he had been at the beginning of it. Hikari spent the entire day hanging out with Takaishi and completely ignoring him. Asuka stayed with him as she normally did, and he was grateful to her, but her consoling didn't help him much. The fact that she was becoming agitated with Hikari's behavior definitely didn't help. When the last bell rang, Hikari and her friend left abruptly without any word. As soon as Daisuke was able to register what had happened after the sudden and unannounced leave (at least sudden and unannounced to him), he ran as fast as he could toward the shoe lockers. When he made it there, he saw Hikari and Takaishi talking amiably about one thing or another. He didn't really care at the moment what it was; he just wanted to know who the kid was that had stolen one of his best friends in just a few hours.

"Hey Blondie!" Daisuke called when he came to a stop. Hikari turned around and glared at him. Daisuke was a little surprised. Hikari _never_ glared at him.

"It's not "Blondie" it's Takeru," she said.

"Whatever," Daisuke said. "What's your deal with Hikari?" He knew he was being rude, but he didn't care at the moment. He had just been ignored all day by one of his best friends and he wanted answers, _now_.

The two of them looked at him a little oddly. "Huh? What are you talking about?" Takeru asked before laughing, and Hikari just sighed. "You're a funny guy, Daisuke."

This only served to irritate Daisuke further, because really, what was funny about what he had asked? How could he not realize what he was asking? Daisuke knew he wasn't the smartest person in the world and he knew he didn't always understand things that should be rather obvious, but Takeru had seemed like a smart guy. Maybe Daisuke had been wrong, because he was pretty sure that what he was asking was obvious.

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Daisuke yelled.

"Daisuke!"

Daisuke turned to see Asuka running towards him. She stopped just before him and grabbed his wrist. "You said you would help me with my project!" she said before she started dragging him away.

"But-!" Daisuke tried to protest.

Asuka shook her head. "No buts!" she yelled and pulled him away from Hikari and Takeru.

"Asuka!" Daisuke complained as his oldest friend dragged him through the halls towards the art room.

Asuka stopped and turned towards Daisuke. She grabbed his shoulders and stared intently into his eyes. "Daisuke, you're always running after her, doing everything in your power to get her to look at you – doing everything to make sure she's happy."

Daisuke frowned. "What's your point?"

"Let her run after you for once."

"And if she doesn't?"

"She's not worth it," Asuka said firmly.

Daisuke's eyes narrowed. "She _is_ worth it," he said just as firmly.

Asuka sighed tiredly. "Whatever. You said you'd help me, but if you'd rather follow Hikari and Takeru around, then go. I won't be angry."

It was a complete lie, and they both knew it, but they also both knew that Asuka would only be angry for a few minutes, unable to take Daisuke's pouting. Daisuke knew he could and would get away with ditching, and she'd still be there for him. And it was exactly the reason why he couldn't ditch her.

Daisuke rolled his eyes and grabbed her arm, this time leading her towards the art room. "Don't lie, Asuka. You're terrible at it."

"Hey!" Asuka yelled indignantly.

"Let's just finish your model," Daisuke said. "I can win Hikari back tomorrow."

Asuka let out a short laugh. "I doubt it, but I'll be rooting for you anyway."

Daisuke smiled at the words. She might not believe that he could win Hikari's heart (which he totally could, and he would prove it), but he also knew that he would never have to win Asuka over to his side. She was always on his side.

* * *

Hikari and Takeru watched as Asuka dragged Daisuke away. They looked at each other and blinked. It was a rather sudden and unexpected event. Hikari couldn't say she was surprised, though. It was Asuka and Daisuke, after all – they were always doing sudden and unexpected things.

Before she or Takeru could say anything, they were heralded by a shout. "There you are!"

They both turned towards the entrance of the locker room and saw Miyako Inoue, a sixth grade girl running towards them. Miyako was rather tall, even taller than Takeru, and had light brown eyes and lilac colored hair. She also wore big round glasses.

She came to a stop in front of Hikari. "You're Hikari Yagami, right?" she asked, while holding up a piece of paper.

"Uh, yes..." Hikari said a little confused.

"Do you know Taichi Yagami?"

Hikari looked at the piece of paper and her eyes widened, "Nii-san! He needs help!" Hikari cried and started running towards the computer lab. Takeru was startled by her sudden departure, but the second her words registered, he took off after her. Miyako followed after them. They ran quickly through the halls and it was a good thing that there weren't any teachers around, because Hikari looked like she would have just bowled them over if there were.

As they came to a flight of stairs they saw a short, red-haired middle school boy walking, very quickly, up them. "Izumi-sempai!" Miyako cried as she spotted the boy.

"Ah, Miyako! I need to use the computer lab," he said.

"Of course you can!" Miyako replied with stars in her eyes looking as if nothing would please her more.

"Koushiro," Takeru said in greeting.

Hikari stepped forward and spoke worriedly to Koushiro, "Nii-san sent us an urgent e-mail. He's in trouble."

"I know, I received one as well, but my computer crashed and I haven't had time to fix it. It's why I need to use the computer lab here," he explained. "Come on we need to hurry."

Hikari and Takeru nodded and the group took off towards the computer lab once again. As soon as they were there, Koushiro went to one of the computers and began typing up a reply to Taichi's distress call. Once he was finished with that he started typing up a bunch of other stuff that went completely over everyone's head, even Miyako's, who was a complete computer nut.

"Hopefully I'll be able to open a gate to the digital world from here," Koushiro said to Hikari and Takeru.

"Hey, hey. What's the Digital World?" Miyako asked with a creepy smile on her face. She was getting irritated with all of the mysterious talk.

Hikari and Takeru shared a glance, but didn't say anything. It was dangerous for anyone to know about the Digital World unless they were a Chosen Child.

Miyako was beginning to get frustrated with the silence, but before she could say anything, a short boy with brown hair and eyes ran into the room. "Miyako, I've been trying to find you. You said you'd help with my computer."

Miyako blinked and her frustration evaporated. "Oh, that's right. I forgot," Miyako said and turned towards the boy. "Sorry, Iori," she apologized before following Iori out of the room.

The computer dinged and Hikari and Takeru looked over Koushiro's shoulder. All three looked at the computer in awe. "The gate… It's open," Koushiro said.

"So... We're going back," Takeru said.

"It looks like it," Koushiro said.

Hikari furrowed her brow in worry. "Taichi…" she whispered and bit her lip.

Suddenly the computer screen lit up. The group tensed and then ducked when four lights shot out of the screen. Blue, yellow, red, and purple streaks shot out the door of the computer lab. The group didn't have much time to think about the implications of those lights, because their own digivices lit up. They took them from their pockets and the digital gate shone. Hikari looked at her digivice and then the computer screen and her eyes hardened.

"Let's worry about the lights later. Right now we need to get my brother," she said.

Takeru nodded and they all held their devices up to the screen. There was a bright flash of light and soon the three of them were gone.

Moments after they left, Miyako and Iori came charging into the room, two strange devices held in their hands. Miyako blinked when all she saw was an empty room.

"Where did they go?" she asked.

Iori saw the computer screen lit up and pointed it out. "Wasn't that the computer they were looking at?"

Miyako frowned and approached the computer. Her eyes widened when she saw an unknown program open on the screen and what appeared to be video of some forest scenery. Miyako went to touch the computer, but was stopped by Iori.

"Maybe we should leave it alone."

"But Iori! Something weird is going on!"

"I know, but we might mess something up. It would be better to wait for the others to come back," Iori said rationally. "Whatever they were doing, it seemed important. I don't think they would leave it like this and not come back."

Miyako didn't look happy about the idea, but she supposed Iori had a point. She was impulsive, but she was also smart. She would wait, and when Koushiro-sempai and the others got back she would grill them for answers.

* * *

Daisuke was doing his best to keep still while Asuka applied glue to the roof he was holding. It was difficult though. The roof wasn't heavy, but holding ones arms out for long periods of time was tiring and doing it while remaining still was even harder. The fact that he knew if he moved he would mess up all of Asuka's hard work, was making him want to move all the more.

"Just another minute…" Asuka said. She knew her friend was starting to fidget, but she was almost done. "One more coat to go and we can set it down."

Daisuke nodded his head and nearly sighed in relief. He held it in, though, knowing that if he sighed, he'd move his arms and mess Asuka up. True to her word, is was only about another minute before the liquid glue had been painted along the bottom edges of the roof. Asuka quickly put her glue and glue brush away to prevent any messes, before she grabbed part of the roof, relieving some of the weight from Daisuke.

"Okay, just move it down slowly…" she said, taking the lead in guiding the roof downwards.

Daisuke easily relinquished control of the model roof. He followed Asuka's arms down, being careful to keep his grip tight, but not so much as to crush the roof. When they got ready to set the roof onto the body of the castle, Asuka paused. She looked at Daisuke over the top of her masterpiece. Their eyes locked and Daisuke nodded his head, showing that he was ready to set the roof down. They laid it down slowly and gently, making sure not to touch the gluey sides anywhere but where the seams needed to be. Once she was sure it was secure, Asuka let go of the roof and leaned back with a sigh.

"It's finished," she said with a smile, looking to Daisuke who was examining the work. "Now all I have to do it paint it and put the finishing touches on."

Daisuke looked up at her with a grin. "It looks great! There's no way you'll lose the contest!"

Asuka's grin split her face at the compliment. She opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly her eyes widened and she took a slight step back. Daisuke quickly turned around, only to find something glowing blue flying right towards him. He let out a small yelp as it closed in on his face, before quickly putting his hands up to protect himself. The object hit his opened palms with a small force and his fingers clenched around it. He saw an amethyst light streak by out of the corner of his eye just before he heard Asuka let out a small yelp.

Turning, he saw that she had a strange device in her hands, held up close to her chest. It was a dark purple and creamy white color with a small square screen and several buttons. It was ovular and about the size of her palm. To the right of it was a short antenna. It almost looked like a weird version of a walkie-talkie save for the screen. He looked at the object in his own hands to see it was the same, except it had blue instead of purple edges.

"W-what is this?" Asuka asked, her voice slightly trembling.

Daisuke looked at the device in his hands unsurely. He was a little freaked out by it, but at the same time, he felt this weird connection to it. It wasn't something he could describe, because he'd never felt it before. Somewhere in the back of his head, something was telling him it was important and that his life was about to change in ways that could barely be comprehended. He looked up to see Asuka clutching the device closely to her chest and looking around nervously.

"You don't think anyone saw them, do you?"

Daisuke hadn't thought of that. He bit his lip and walked cautiously to the door. He peered out, checking up and down the halls. The place seemed completely deserted.

"I don't think so, but maybe we should leave and figure out what's going on," he said and Asuka nodded.

They quickly found a sheet to cover Asuka's project with and wrote a quick note telling everyone to leave it alone. They grabbed their bags from one of the drafting tables they had laid them on and tossed the strange devices to the bottom. They hurried from the room, making sure to close it up tight, before heading down the hall as quickly as possible without looking suspicious.

"Let's go to my house," Daisuke said in a low tone as they made it out of the building. "It'll be closer."

Asuka nodded her head in agreement. "Right."

* * *

Hikari, Takeru, and Koushiro trekked through the familiar terrain. They didn't speak, but not one of them could stop looking at all the strange yet beautiful scenery of the digital world. Koushiro took in every aspect of the forest they walked through, trying to determine where they might have ended up. He couldn't pin point it, but he decided not to let that bother him. The Digital world went through so many changes since their very first time there and after the Dark Masters had been defeated and the world had changed back from Spiral Mountain, they hadn't had the chance to explore or travel and see if there had been any permanent changes.

Beeping from all of their digivices had Koushiro's mind snapping back to the situation at hand.

"We're really close. We should be almost on top of them by now," Takeru said. Almost as soon as he had finished, the group heard a very familiar high pitched voice.

"Takeru!"

The three looked up to see the small winged form of Patamon flying towards them. He collided with Takeru's chest before the boy could get a word out. Takeru's arms automatically came around his partner as the little digimon nuzzled into his chest.

"Patamon! I thought I'd never see you again!" he said joyously.

"Hikari!" Another, more feminine voice, called out and Gatomon appeared from the same direction as Patamon. She also, jumped into her partner's arms, and Hikari easily caught her.

"Gatomon!"

While the two younger Chosen Children reunited with their partners, Koushiro thought about his own. If he had been in the area, he would have come to him as well. He was disappointed that he couldn't see his partner, but more than that he was worried. He hoped Tentomon was safe where ever he was and that they'd be able to meet again.

"Great! You guys got my message!"

Koushiro jerked his head upwards, startled from his thoughts when he heard Taichi's voice. He was running towards them, the edges of his green blazer flapping out behind him. Koushiro couldn't help but think that the image was rather comical. Agumon ran beside him, surprisingly fast for his short, stout form.

"Nii-san!"

"Taichi!"

Hikari and Takeru called out in relief when they saw him. Hikari looked like she would have hugged him had her arms not been full with Gatomon. Koushiro walked up to him and looked him up and down in a cursory examination.

"Taichi, it's good to see you're alright," he said when he noticed that his friend wasn't hurt.

"Koushiro, I'm glad you guys could make it," Taichi said, looking relieved before worry replaced it. "Things aren't looking too good here."

Koushiro opened his mouth to ask more about the situation when an exclamation from Hikari had everyone's attention turning to her.

"Gatomon! What happened to you? You're covered with injuries!" she said worriedly.

Koishiro frowned. Looking closer, he could see the small abrasions in her fir. It wasn't just Gatomon either. Patamon and Agumon looked like they had been in several fights recently too.

"I think we should find a safer place first," Agumon said before Gatomon could speak.

Everyone agreed and the group hurried through the forest. They ended up in a large cavern, which the digimon said they were using as a safe haven. Koushiro immediately noticed the strange looking object in the middle of the room, which rested on a rock pedestal. It looked a bit like a digi-egg with a large bladed spike sticking out of it. It was also red, orange, and yellow, but he was too far away for any other distinguishing features to be made out. Before he could ask about it, Hikari began to speak.

"Okay, Gatomon. What happened?" she asked, and Koushiro turned his attention to the discussion at hand.

"We were attacked. We tried to fight back, but there were too many of them. The Unimon alone were kicking our butts. We were lucky to get away at all," Gatomon explained and everyone listened in distress. "This human who calls himself the Digimon Kaiser has been brainwashing digimon one by one."

"Human!?" Takeru exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah. He had a digivice, but it looked different than yours."

"Different? How?" Koushiro asked in interest.

"I don't know. It looked different, like an oval instead of a square," Gatomon tried to explain.

"And it's black too!" Patamon pitched in.

"The problem is that it keeps us from evolving," Agumon pitched in. "After he showed up these dark towers started to rise and ever since we've all been stuck in our rookie forms."

There was silence at the devastating news. How were they supposed to fight if they couldn't evolve? What could they do?

It was Taichi who finally broke the silence. "Well, that's that then," he said while looking at Agumon.

"If we could evolve we would definitely take him down," Agumon said in frustration.

"Even though I'm a champion, I'm not much help alone," Gatomon said.

"We've also been separated from Tentomon and the others..." Patamon said, only adding to the desperate situation.

"How can a human hunt digimon!?" Hikari yelled in disgust. "This Digimon Kaiser. He's so stupid!"

For a moment, there was silence, but Koushiro was deep in thought. There was something bothering him. "I'm curious…about those lights," he said.

"Oh! I forgot about those," Hirkari exclaimed.

"What lights?" Taichi asked a little suspiciously.

"Just before the digigate opened these four different colored lights shot from the computer screen." Takeru explained. "They went into the hall, but when the digital world opened we forgot about them."

"I wonder if they were the same lights…" Taichi said looking at Agumon.

"It's possible," Agumon said.

"Do you know something about it, Taichi?" Koushiro asked curiously.

Taichi gestured towards the digi-egg in the center of the room. "When Agumon and the others brought me here, they showed me that egg."

"It has the Crest of Courage on it, so we thought that it belonged to him," Patamon said. "No one was able to lift it."

"Problem was, _I_ couldn't lift it either," Taichi continued. "But when I touched it, these four lights, red yellow, blue, and purple, came shooting from it and disappeared into the ceiling."

They all walked closer to the egg and Koushiro studied it closely. "Perhaps it's not meant for you, then," he said, causing everyone to look at him curiously. "Well, it's definitely the crest of courage, but maybe it's for someone else. It is possible those lights were digivices. After all, ours came falling from the sky like meteorites." Koushiro looked up at Hikari and Takeru. "Maybe we should all try it, just to make sure."

Takeru shrugged his shoulders. "It's worth a shot I guess," he said as he walked towards the egg. He bent and grabbed it at the base, before pulling with as much force as he was able. The egg didn't move. After a moment he stood, panting a little. "Yeah, I don't think it's mine," he said, before waving at it with a flourish for Hikari. "Your turn."

"It doesn't look like it would be very heavy," she said as she came towards it. "Maybe it just needs a woman's touch." She bent down to pull, but the egg didn't budge.

"To bad we don't have any," Takeru teased. Hikari shot him a mock glare, before moving to stand by him. "Looks like it's up to you, Koushiro."

Koushiro hummed while looking at the egg critically. He bent down and hooked his fingers under the egg's base as far as he could. "If I apply the right amount of force…" he said and started pulling. "It…should…come…right…up…" Nothing happened and Koushiro fell back with a puff of breath. "Or not."

"So it either belongs to one of the others or to a new Chosen Child," Taichi said.

"I'd go with the latter, if we're going with the theory that those lights were new digivices," Koushiro said as he stood back up and patted some dirt off his pants.

"The problem will be finding these new kids," Takeru said. "I mean, it was difficult enough to find Hikari and we at least had a place to start looking for her."

The others nodded in agreement but before anything more could be said, the cavern began to shake. Pieces of rock fell from the ceiling and everyone was looking around trying to figure out what was going on.

"What's happening!?" Hikari cried out in shock as she was nearly knocked from her feet.

"Look up there!" Takeru said, pointing towards the ceiling.

Above them was the giant dinosaur form of Monochromon. The few red stripes that peppered its viciously sharp horns stood out vividly against its black and red scales. When it roared, the sound reverberated off the cave walls. Teeth the size of their forearms gleamed.

"Monochromon!" Taichi yelled in shock and anxiousness, remembering the first time they had come face to face with the digimon. They'd been set on rending each other limb from limb over a sliver of territory.

Just then Monochromon fell through the hole it had created and plummeted straight towards the group. When it hit the ground, Patamon and Agumon attacked with a blast of air and fire respectively. The attacks did little to faze the large digimon and it roared and opened its mouth to fire its own attack in response.

"Not good! Let's get out of here!" Takeru yelled as he turned around and ran. Taichi, Koushiro, Hikari, Patamon, and Gatomon were right behind him.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so hopefully you guys are interested. You'll have noticed that I didn't finish the episode, which is because it was going to be too long.**

 **Just to give a brief rundown of the changes made –**

 ***Daisuke agrees to help Asuka with an art project, so he isn't with Hikari and Takeru when Miyako finds them.**

 ***Miyako leaves with Iori just before the digivices come through the computer. Because Daisuke isn't there, Koushiro has enough time to go to the digital world before Miyako and Iori interrupt him.**

 ***Miyako and Iori find an empty room when they rush back in. They choose to wait, not knowing what is going on.**

 ***In the digital world, nothing much changes except that Gatomon didn't lose her Tail Ring, which was a logical error. How could a Unimon stepping on it cause it to slip off so easily when she fights and keeps her tail pointed down a lot without it coming off? It doesn't make sense. I'll explain in the next chapter how this, if at all, affects her effectiveness in battle against the controlled digimon.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think, especially about my OC and how I've chosen to incorporate her into the world.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, here's chapter two. I thought long an hard about how I wanted it to play out and decided on this way. Although not too different from the original, there wasn't much I could do about that.**

 **Just as a refresher, I'm going to post the changes I made in the last chapter here.**

 ***Daisuke agrees to help Asuka with an art project, so he isn't with Hikari and Takeru when Miyako finds them.**

 ***Miyako leaves with Iori just before the digivices come through the computer. Because Daisuke isn't there, Koushiro has enough time to go to the digital world before Miyako and Iori interrupt him.**

 ***Miyako and Iori find an empty room when they rush back in. They choose to wait, not knowing what is going on.**

 ***In the digital world, nothing much changes except that Gatomon didn't lose her Tail Ring, which was a logical error.**

 **PLEASE NOTE, IF YOU ARE CONFUSED BY ANY OF MY DECISIONS, MY REASONINGS FOR THE CHANGES I HAVE MADE ARE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. IF I HAVE ALREADY ADRESSED THE ISSUE, I WILL NOT ANSWER QUESTION PERTAINING TO SAID ISSUE ASKED IN A REVIEW OR PM.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.**

 **I do, however, own Asuka Akiyama, so don't steal her.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The One Who Inherits Courage**

Daisuke and Asuka made it to Daisuke's apartment in record time. They had run the entire way and the moment they reached the door, they'd slammed into it, fumbled clumsily to get their shoes off, and sped towards Daisuke's room. They didn't even announce that they were home.

Jun walked out of the kitchen, glass of juice in hand, to see what the problem was. She quickly jumped back when she was nearly bowled over by the two ten year olds.

"Hey Jun!" Daisuke called in greeting as he passed his stunned sister.

"Bye Jun!" Asuka called out a second later as she, too, passed the flabbergasted teen.

As soon as they passed, Jun peered out of the kitchen after them, only to see the end of Asuka's pony tail disappear behind Daisuke's door, before said door slammed shut. She stared for a moment longer, blinking at the closed door. Abruptly she turned from the door and walked back into the kitchen, shaking her head.

"I don't even want to know," she told herself.

* * *

In Daisuke's room, Asuka collapsed onto the floor holding her side and wheezing a little. She leaned against his bed frame and allowed her eyes to wander around the room. The walls were decorated with pictures, some drawn or painted by Asuka and other photographs of Asuka and Daisuke, the Soccer team, Taichi and Hikari, and even a few with Daisuke and his family. The desk sat against the window, the perfect place for studying in Asuka's opinion, as it allowed one to look out and escape for brief moments the boredom of schoolwork.

"Why is your dad's computer in here?" Asuka asked when she noticed the old desktop sitting in the corner of Daisuke's desk.

Daisuke didn't look up from his rummaging through his bag. "They're fixing the office up and Jun complained about having it in her room. It's not connected or anything, so Dad has to do all his work at the station," he explained.

Daisuke huffed in irritation as his homework and school books kept getting in the way of finding the strange device. He growled and began taking everything out and throwing it all behind him. English texts and Kanji practicing books flew like birds before landing ungracefully on the floor. Homework for math, history, science and home economics fluttered through the air while pencils and erasers rained down on hapless white papers, smudging and marking them.

"Found it!" he cried and pulled the strange device out.

Asuka finally found her own strength and began looking for her own device. It didn't take as long, because she'd thrown it in the front pocket of her bag, where she kept her drawing pencils.

Once both devices were out, Daisuke and Asuka looked at each other uncertainly.

"What do you think it is?" Asuka asked, looking back down at her device.

Daisuke narrowed his eyes as he studied the thing. It was light weight, like plastic, but it felt a lot like metal. "I don't know. Maybe it's alien," he suggested.

Asuka's eyes brightened at the thought. "You think so? That would be so cool!"

Daisuke grinned. "I know, right?" He paused and frowned again. "Unless it belongs to evil aliens that want take over the world."

Asuka sighed. "That's true. That would suck."

Suddenly, the two devices lit up, causing Asuka and Daisuke to shout in surprise and drop them. They clattered to the ground noisily and beams of light shot out of them. The light arched midway in the air and hit the screen of the computer. Black turned to white and the computers loading screen popped up.

"I-I thought you said the computer wasn't connected," Asuka said frightfully.

Daisuke swallowed. "It's not," he said and pointed at the wall beside his desk. The computer's power cord lay innocently unplugged from the wall outlet.

The computer let out a little chime and both of them jumped. Their eyes locked onto the screen, which showed the computer's homepage. Then a window popped up, which also appeared to be loading. Strange writing and computer code began to work its way across the screen. After a short time, another window opened, showing what appeared to be a real time video display of a forest. In red letters to the right of the video feed was the word LOCKED.

The lights from the devices dimmed before their tiny screens went black. The computer remained as it was.

"What-what should we do?" Asuka asked in a shaky voice.

Daisuke didn't answer her, unsure what to say. Instead he watched the small hourglass icon spin on the computer screen as something loaded. It was only seconds before the red word disappeared and a green one appeared, this time spelling out "OPEN." Daisuke looked at Asuka and she swallowed, before nodding her head and they walked towards the computer, Asuka holding Daisuke's sleeve tightly.

When they reached the computer screen Daisuke reached out towards it. Asuka held her breath, not sure what to expect, but expecting something nonetheless. Tan fingers hovered just over the forest scenery. Then, Daisuke's fingers brushed the screen. Brilliant light burst from the computer and at their feet. Asuka looked down just in time to see the little devices lit, before she was pulled forward toward the computer screen.

* * *

Being sucked into a computer and digitized was an experience that most people had never felt or even thought of feeling and Daisuke certainly wouldn't be recommending it. It's not that it _hurt_ – not really – but it was very disconcerting. Watching yourself getting pulled into a computer screen and having your body slowly digitize and break apart to fit was really creepy and rather uncomfortable. It left a very strange tingling all over his body and a tickling in his stomach that was usually reserved for going very fast down a big hill. Having your body reconfigured as you exit the computer was even worse, but again no pain was involved. At least not until you were a person (or a digital person) again and hit the ground hard.

Of course the actual process was way too fast for Daisuke to actually think on any of this while it was occurring, so he mostly thought about it as he stood up from his crumpled position on the forest floor. Wait, _forest_? Daisuke looked around in shock as he saw the strange looking trees and plants. Out of everything he had been expecting this definitely wasn't on the list, _anywhere_.

After a few seconds of dumbfounded staring he remembered Asuka was with him. He turned around, looking for her and saw her not far from where he had woken up. She was sitting up, a hand on her forehead. He ran up to her, and was relieved that she didn't seem hurt.

"Ow… What happened?" she asked, not yet opening her eyes.

"I think my dad's computer kidnapped us," Daisuke said.

Asuka blinked her eyes open and looked ready to say something when she caught sight of their surroundings. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open in shock. She looked around wildly.

"Wh-where are we?" she asked in shock and a little fear.

Daisuke shrugged. "Beats me," he said, offering a hand to help Asuka up. "But it kind of looks like that place on the program we saw."

Asuka took his hand, giving him an incredulous look. "You're way too calm about this."

Daisuke grinned. "Not like we can do anything about it," he said. "Besides, it kind of makes me think about that Digital World place Taichi-sempai mentioned before."

Asuka took another look around. "I suppose… but doesn't that mean there are monsters here?"

"Well, yeah, but if we're here we might get to meet that friend of Taichi-sempai's Agidon." Daisuke frowned. "No that's not it… Agubon? Aguton?!"

Asuka laughed at him. "You mean Agumon?"

"Right! That!"

Asuka rolled her eyes. "I'll admit, it sounds cool, but we only ever heard about the Digital world by accident. He always stopped talking when he realized we were around. We don't actually know anything about this place."

Daisuke shrugged. "Well, it's not like we can do anything about it. We don't even know how we got here."

Asuka sighed and looked around again. She paused when her eyes landed on a television set. "Why is there a TV in the middle of the forest?"

Daisuke looked at the black screen of the TV and opened his mouth to say something, but a high pitched beeping cut him off. He looked down and saw the two strange devices laying a couple feet away. The screens were lit up. Daisuke approached and picked up the device. There was a grid like design on the screen and a red dot in the upper right corner surrounded by four blue dots. A white, slightly pulsing dot was at the center of the screen. Almost directly on top of it, was another blue dot. Somehow Daisuke knew that was where he and Asuka were.

"If we're the white dot," Asuka said from beside him, holding her own device. "Then what are the red and blue ones for?"

"Maybe we're not the only ones who got them," Daisuke said.

"If that's true, they're our best bet for getting home," Asuka replied.

Daisuke nodded his head in agreement and they began walking towards what they hoped were signs of life. As they walked, Daisuke couldn't help but stare at the scenery curiously. It didn't actually look that different from the normal world. The trees looked kind of tropical and the colors were sharper than back home, but it mostly looked the same.

It didn't take them long before they were standing before a large cave entrance. The blue dots were still blinking on the screen and it appeared the only way to get to them was through the cave. Asuka and Daisuke looked at each other, both a little nervous, but forged ahead, nonetheless.

It was dark, but the light from their devices allowed them to see up to a few feet in front of them. It was cold, and the air smelled like wet dirt. The ground beneath them was hard and compact, allowing their steps to echo against the stone walls.

As they rounded a bend in the tunnel the walls shook. Asuka stumbled into Daisuke, sending them both to the ground. Asuka pushed herself off her friend and they hurriedly stood up.

"What's going on!" she yelled.

"How should I know?"

"It's a rhetorical question, Daisuke!"

"Hey! The blue dots are moving!" Daisuke exclaimed and Asuka quickly looked at her device. It was true. They had almost been on top of the four blue dots, but now they were quickly moving to the upper right of the screen. The red dot remained where it was.

"We need to hurry or we'll lose them!" Daisuke said, running forward.

"Wait!" Asuka called out, grabbing his sleeve. "What if they're involved with that shaking?"

"Then we really need to hurry!" Daisuke said, knocking Asuka's hand away and running forward again.

Asuka groaned at her friend's recklessness, but followed after him anyway. She knew he had a point, but she did wish he would stop and think of the consequences to his actions once in a while.

It wasn't long before they made it into a large cavern. Sunlight filtered in from a hole in the ceiling and large boulders and rocks littered the rocky floor. It looked like the epicenter of the earthquake. Looking at her digivice, Asuka saw that they were wherever the red dot was, and that the blue dots seemed to have stopped moving. Asuka looked around the room to see what the red dot was, and her eyes landed on Daisuke leaning over a strange object. Asuka ran up to him, her footsteps echoing loudly around the cavern.

The object was mostly red and in the general shape of an egg. Flame like designs decorated the top, spreading out around a large, curved blade. Below the blade was an orange stylize sun symbol.

"What is it?" Asuka asked quietly.

Daisuke shrugged. "No idea, but I get this strange feeling…" he trailed off, frowning in deep thought. He leaned a little closer and grasped hold of it. It was unexpectedly hot and he quickly let it go.

"What? What happened?" Asuka asked in worry.

Daisuke shook his head. "Nothing. I just, wasn't expecting it to be warm."

"Warm?" Asuka asked before reaching out to touch it. She frowned and pulled her hand away. "It didn't feel warm," she said.

Daisuke wrapped his hands back around it. "No, it's definitely warm," he said as he felt the warmth spread through his body. He stood up, the object still in his hands.

A pillar of fiery light shot up from the object's pedestal. Slowly, a shadowy form became visible. As the light began to fade, Daisuke could see the figure was a blue reptilian beast, almost dragon-like, curled into a tight ball. Its eyes opened, and it blinked. It lifted its head and ruby-red eyes caught sight of Daisuke.

Suddenly, it sprang forward and Daisuke backpedaled. He tripped and fell to the ground.

"Hooray! Yes, yes, yes!" the two foot tall blue dragon yelled with unadulterated glee as he bounced around Daisuke. "The Digimental has been activated!" When the creature finally did stop in front of him, he held out his hand and introduced himself. "My name's V-mon. What's yours?"

"Daisuke," he said a little dazed by what was going on.

"Nice to meet you Daisuke! I've been waiting for you to come for so long."

"Waiting for me?" Daisuke question. He was so confused.

"Yes! I've been waiting for a child that could activate the Digimental of Courage," V-mon explained, but it didn't really help much.

"What _are_ you," Asuka asked. Daisuke looked over to her and saw her standing a few feet away, staring wide-eyed at V-mon.

V-mon looked at her. "I'm a digimon, of course!"

Daisuke and Asuka shared a look. They really were in the Digital World. Daisuke looked at the device in his hands and noticed the blue dots had stopped again. He stared at them, remembering why he and Asuka had come into the cave in the first place.

"Okay, we can figure out what's going on later," Daisuke declared, pushing himself up. "But we need to go to where these blue dots are."

Asuka clenched her own device. "If they're people with the same devices, than they might know how to help," she said.

"You mean the digivices?" V-mon asked as the small group began following the blue dots into another large tunnel. "If someone has one that means they're a Chosen Child. They'll definitely be able to help you."

"Chosen Child?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah. The Chosen Children are special humans from another world. They come when the digital world is in danger."

"That means Taichi-sempai is even more amazing than I thought!" Daisuke exclaimed in amazement.

"But if we have these digivices that means we're Chosen Children too," Asuka said.

Daisuke grew quiet and looked at his digivice with renewed interest. His attention was stolen by a loud scream. Daisuke only froze for a second with surprise before he was running forward. He could hear Asuka's light steps behind him, and V-mon's heavier slapping steps beside him.

The path was straight, with no turn-offs. Only seconds passed before the small group came across a large opening. Light flooded into the cave and it took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust. Once they did, they saw they were on a small outcropping. Below them was a large clearing set into a sea of dark green leaves.

The scene playing out in the clearing made Daisuke gasp.

Taichi was there with a waist high orange dinosaur. Both looked scuffed up and bruised. Taichi's goggles laid a few feet from him. Across the clearing from them was Takaishi and a cat sized hamster with bat-like wings standing protectively in front of him, despite its wobbly state. Kneeling next to him with a ripped middle school jacket was a short red-headed boy Daisuke vaguely remembered Taichi meeting with before. Hikari was there too, but she was by the far tree-line. She sat, hands covering her left ankle. A white cat with sharp knife-like claws stood before her. Its long tail flicked angrily and the golden ring around it caught the sun.

In the middle of all of it was a huge monster, easily taller than all of them. Its body was a mass of powerful muscles, glistening black scales with deep red stripes pulling tightly over them. The horn on its snout was ridiculously large and looked viciously sharp.

"What…?" Asuka gasped out and Daisuke flicked his eyes to her. She looked sick, face pale and limbs trembling.

Daisuke's attention was brought back to the clearing when he heard a roar. The monster was rushing forward as if in a frenzy, its mouth foaming and eyes wild. Hikari screamed and Daisuke was frozen. The white cat digimon blocked it with a powerful punch, but it only seemed to stun the black digimon. The beast threw its head and the white cat was thrown backwards. It skidded along the ground, pulling up grass and making plumes of dust as it went.

"Gatomon!" Hikari yelled with horror, voice echoing around the clearing.

"Hikari! Move!" Taichi yelled. He made to step forward, but stopped short, a hand coming to rest on his ribs.

"Daisuke! What are you waiting for? Use your courage!" V-mon said.

Daisuke's eyes snapped to him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, tone harsh.

V-mon didn't appear bothered. "Use the digimental," he said, indicating the strange artefact. "Say 'digimental up' and I can evolve," V-mon told him. Daisuke was still a little confused, but he had to do something before that thing charged again.

"This had better work!" he told V-mon and lifted the digimental into the air. "Digimental up!" As soon as the words had left his mouth a red-orange light shone out from the digimental. Daisuke felt warmth spread out from it and throughout his entire body.

"V-mon, Armor Evolve to…!" V-mon called out as he was also engulfed in the light, and slowly his form began to shift and change and the light became a raging inferno. When it had cleared, V-mon was now a tall blue dragon with red and orange armor. The coverings on his arms and head resembled the digimental with three blade like claws and a large blade like horn. When the transformation was finished he called out again. "…the Fire of Courage, Fladramon!"

Daisuke didn't have to say anything before Fladramon jumped into action. He shot from the overhang in one powerful thrust of his legs, tackling the black digimon to the ground. Daisuke couldn't make out the others' faces, but he could tell they were surprised by their tense postures.

The black digimon was forced on its side by Fladramon's attack. He used it as a springboard, propelling himself into a flip and mid-air twist. When he landed, Fladramon stood facing the digimon. It didn't stay down for long. The moment its feet were under it, it charged Fladramon. The fire dragon stood his ground and braced himself for the impact. He grabbed a hold of the black digimon's head, easily stopping it despite the black digimon's larger size. Then, with what appeared to be little effort, Fladramon lifted the larger digimon and tossed it to the side.

Daisuke thought for a moment that it was over, but the black digimon merely skidded across the ground. When it stopped its eyes glowed red. It opened its mouth and sent a barrage of fiery balls at Fladramon. Daisuke sucked in a breath as Fladramon ran forward, not bothering to dodge the attacks. As each ball of fire came within range, he punched them, causing them to dissolve into fire before fizzling out.

The black digimon seemed to realize that its fire attacks were futile, because it charged Fladramon again. Fladramon tried to grapple with it again, but this time it was able to fling its head up, effectively sending Fladramon flying straight up into the air.

Asuka's fingers dug painfully into Daisuke's arm as Fladramon was thrown. They loosened again when Fladramon appeared unconcerned. Instead the fire digimon flipped himself around so he was facing the black digimon below him. His entire body was consumed in burning flames and he called out "Fire Rocket!" as he launched himself towards the enemy.

"Aim for the Dark Ring! It will break the Kaiser's control over Monochromon!" Gatomon called out. She had recovered from the previous blow and was now hovering protectively at Hikari's shoulder.

Fladramon continued his decent, only changing course enough so that he was now aiming for a thick black band wrapped around the digimon's torso. His eyes glinted with determination as he plummeted. He hit his mark, ramming into the Dark Ring. As soon as his attack landed, he flipped himself through the air again, coming to stand before Monochromon. His form was tense until the Black Ring began to crack and crumble.

Daisuke heard a sharp gasp beside him and Asuka's hands left his arm. He turned to see her clutching her chest. Her skin was white as a sheet and her face was pinched, as if she were in pain. Her legs trembled and she stumbled forward. Daisuke quickly caught her and lowered her to the ground.

"Asuka? What's wrong?" he asked, a little frantic.

Asuka didn't answer, only shaking her head. She stopped almost immediately and clenched her eyes tightly closed. Her lips trembled with the force she used to push them together.

Daisuke didn't know what to do. He'd seen Hikari get sick once. She had collapsed on the playground and he and Asuka had freaked out. The teacher took the three of them to the infirmary and Daisuke remembered Taichi coming over from his classes. That had been different, though. Hikari had always been frail, until the next summer, that is, but Asuka wasn't. And this time, there were no teachers or big brothers to take care of her.

Daisuke suddenly remembered that Taichi was down the cliff side and he didn't have to do this alone. He turned to get their attention, but Asuka grasped his sleeve. It was a weak hold, but Daisuke stopped as if it were an iron grip. He looked at her, but her eyes were still closed tightly.

"Come on. Taichi-sempai can help," Daisuke said, trying to help her stand.

Asuka jerked back. "No!" she said, nearly falling to the ground. "I don't want to go down there."

Her voice was laced with fear and Daisuke felt his stomach drop. Asuka was rarely afraid. She did have a tendency to scream about spiders the size of gnats and clowns freaked her out. There was also a fear of vampires that they both shared. Neither were sure how it had started, but it was bad enough that they avoided any talk of them if they could help it.

But only once had he ever seen her this afraid. Their fathers' had been working a particularly dangerous case and were late coming home. She'd been terrified then.

The look in her eyes was the same as back then. Daisuke knew she wasn't afraid of Taichi and the others. She definitely hadn't been afraid of Veemon, now Fladramon. Even if she had been afraid of Monochromon he had been defeated – freed from the Dark Ring that controlled him.

Daisuke heard a heavy thump behind him. He turned, making sure to keep his hands on Asuka's shoulders, and looked at his new partner. Fladramon was walking calmly towards them. His sharp eyes landed on Asuka and he looked concerned.

"Daisuke," he said, his voice deep and mature unlike when he was V-mon.

"Fladramon, we need to get Asuka out of here," he told his partner. He looked at her trembling form in his arms. "I don't know what's wrong," he said, looking back up. "But we need to get away."

"What about the other Chosen Children?" Fladramon asked even as he came closer and stooped over them.

Daisuke shook his head firmly. "We can find them later or figure out another way home, but right now, Asuka needs to be away from here."

Fladramon nodded and picked the two humans up, Daisuke in his right arm and Asuka in his left. Daisuke quickly clutched to his partner, caught off guard by the sudden movement. Then, he clutched tighter when Fladramon shot up, jumping up the mountain side.

* * *

Taichi watched speechless as the dragon-like digimon scaled the side of the mountain, two figures in hand. He was able to pick out that they were human, but any distinguishing features were obscured by the digimon's body. If he were being honest with himself, he hadn't thought to look at the outcropping where the digimon had come from to see if someone was there. He'd been too shocked by the sudden events and then too focused on the fight to think of it.

His thoughts suddenly returned to the clearing and Taichi tore his gaze from the retreating trio. Immediately his eyes sought out Hikari. Gatomon was next to her, fussing over her sprained ankle. She looked otherwise unharmed and Taichi couldn't have been happier with that.

He took a moment to look over at Koushiro and Takeru who had helped her stay that way. Koushiro's jacket was ruined and there was a small cut on his brow. He held his hands palm up, and Taichi winced at the thought of the abrasions that would be there from when he had skid across the ground. A large bruise was forming on Takeru cheek. He moved his wrist gingerly before wincing. Patamon, meanwhile, looked exhausted, but no less fussy over Takeru's injuries than Gatomon was over Hikari's.

Taichi looked away and began making his way towards his sister. He winced when he jarred his ribs. They still hurt from when Agumon had been sent flying into him. Taichi was sure they were bruised.

"Taichi? Are you okay?" Agumon asked from beside him, worry evident in his voice even while sporting his own limp.

"Nothing I haven't had before," he said. "Although I forgot how painful the digital world could be."

"Sorry. If I hadn't called you back, you wouldn't be hurt," Agumon said, upset his partner was hurt because of him.

Taichi looked down with a frown. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm glad you called. I want to help out – _we_ want to help out – anyway we can."

"It is our job," Koushiro said, walking up to the two. Takeru had managed to make his way over to Hikari, who was petting Monochromon like it was an overgrown cat. Taichi wondered when it had gotten over there. "As Chosen Children it's our duty to help the digital world when there's a problem," Koushiro continued and Taichi snapped his attention back to the conversation. "Besides, since Tentomon's here, I want to help even more."

"That's right, buddy. Didn't all those battles two years ago teach you this partner thing isn't a one way street?" Taichi said, looking at Agumon. "Now, let's get the others so we can figure out our next move."

The trio made their way over to the rest of their group. Hikari looked up as they approached, worry etched on her face. Gatomon had brought a straight branch over while Takeru tried to rip part of his shirt. Koushiro took off his ripped school jacket and knelt next to Hikari.

"Here, let me," he said, ripping the sleeve from his jacket. "You need to rest your wrist."

Takeru relented and Koushiro grabbed the branch, breaking it in half. He placed half the branch against Hikari's injured ankle and began wrapping the jacket sleeve tightly around it. Hikari hissed in pain and Taichi grimaced. He hated seeing his sister in pain. He wished he could help, or even splint her ankle himself, but his aching ribs just weren't cooperating. As soon as Koushiro was finished with Hikari, he turned to Takeru, holding the other branch half. Taichi sighed as he thought about Yamato's reaction to his brother's injuries.

Koushiro finished quickly and stood up. "That should hold until we get back. Although I'm curious how the school will react to our appearances."

"I know how I'd react," Taichi said, a hand to his forehead. He blinked when he realized that he didn't have his goggles on. "Where…?"

"I've got them, Taichi," Agumon said, holding up the blue goggles. "I saw them on our way over and picked them up."

"Thanks, Agumon," Taichi said, taking them. He inspected them to see if they were damaged, but other than a few dirt smudges they appeared fine.

"We really need to get going, but…" Takeru began, looking at Monochromon and the other digimon.

Patamon flew up, shaking his head. "It's alright. It's almost time to relax now," he said, indicating the setting sun.

"Eh? Why?" Takeru asked curiously.

"The Digimon Kaiser doesn't come out at night," Gatomon said.

"That's interesting," Koushiro said, looking thoughtful. "We might be able to use something like that to our advantage."

"Well, we can talk about it when we meet with the others back home," Taichi said. "Hopefully the gate's still open." Everyone agreed, not wanting to be stuck in the digital world again.

The group made slow progress, stopping for multiple breaks, either for Hikari's leg or Taichi's ribs. At first Taichi had tried to deny he was in any pain, but it wasn't long before his defenses were torn asunder by the walk and Hikari's worry. The easiest leg of their journey had been getting through the caves. Once they were free of the dark, winding corridors, things became difficult. The forest didn't have many distinguishing features and when they'd first arrived, Hikari and Takeru had been in too much of a rush to think about leaving a trail. This made finding their way back to the gate difficult.

They still made it before nightfall, which was a relief. The TV screen was still on, shining into the forest like a beacon. As they drew closer, they could see two people on the other side of the screen. They appeared to be eating something.

"That's Miyako and Iori," Takeru said, recognizing his two neighbors.

"I thought they left before we went into the digital world?" Koushiro said with a frown.

" _What's taking them so long?"_ Miyako complained. She shoved something in her mouth. _"You should have brought more ohagi."_

" _Isn't that your third one?"_ Iori asked before taking a bite of his own ohagi.

" _I can't help it!"_ Miyako cried, shoving some more in her mouth. _"They're just so good!"_ She looked at the screen and swallowed thickly. " _Hey, they're back_!"

Hikari smiled and waved at them sheepishly. "Uh, hi guys…"

"I suppose we'll get back the same way we came through," Koushiro said, reaching out to touch the screen.

The moment his fingers grazed the glass surface a light shone from the screen and the group was pulled forward into the TV. They were flung from the TV into a heaping pile on the floor. Miyako was at the bottom of the pile and Takeru was at the top. Hikari had landed half-way out of the pile with her upper body landing in Iori's lap. Taichi was bent over the legs of a fallen chair and had various peoples' legs laying on top of him and Koushiro was sandwiched somewhere in the middle.

"Someone has some explaining to do as soon as they get off of me!" Miyako howled.

* * *

By the time Fladramon had reached the forest path Daisuke and Asuka had first appeared on, the sun was low in the sky. Fladramon slowed to a stop and carefully lowered Asuka and Daisuke to the ground. The sudden change in elevation had both of them stumbling. They caught themselves on Fladramon until their legs were steady.

Once Daisuke was sure he wouldn't fall over he went to Asuka's side. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, grabbing her shoulder as she pushed away from Fladramon.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm feeling a lot better," she said softly.

"What was that?" Daisuke question, a frown marring his face.

Asuka bit her lip, shrugging helplessly. "I don't know. I just… All of a sudden I was freezing and I felt like I might pass out."

Daisuke looked at her worriedly and she gave him a weak smile. Suddenly a bright light engulfed Fladramon. The two startled and looked towards him just in time to see the light from the de-evolution shoot towards Daisuke's belt where he kept his digivice. Daisuke had just enough time to see Veemon standing in Fladramon's place before he was distracted by the light shooting from his digivice to his jacket pocket. He felt a sudden weight there and reached inside, pulling out another strange device, made from the same alloy as the digivice. It was longer and flatter, but also a little wider. It had several buttons on it, an antennae that was currently pushed down, and a looser covering that he flipped open to see that the device had a screen. On the screen a small digitized version of the Digimental of Courage bounced up and down.

Asuka leaned over his shoulder to look at the device. "Well, at least you won't have to explain why you have a large rock with a blade sticking out of it to your parents," she said.

Daisuke snorted. "Yeah, that wouldn't have gone over well," he said before turning his attention to Veemon who was sitting on the ground. "Are you okay?"

Veemon looked up and smiled tiredly. "Just tired. I can't hold that form for long."

Asuka bent over him. "You overexerted yourself for me. Thank you."

Veemon grinned. "Well, you're Daisuke's friend and Daisuke's my partner, so of course I would."

Daisuke tucked his hands behind his head, looking thoughtful. "I'm not sure I understand this whole chosen children or partner thing yet."

"Well, the Chosen Children are humans who protect the digital world and the human world. You get a digivice and with it you can help your partner digimon evolve," Veemon said.

"That's what this is, right?" Asuka said, pulling out her digivice. Veemon nodded. "Does that mean I have a partner too?"

Veemon nodded again. "Yeah, but I don't know where they are. I was sleeping under the Digimental of Courage for a long time before Daisuke removed it."

"So Asuka's partner will be waiting for her under a digimental too?" Daisuke asked.

Veemon shrugged. "Maybe. You'll have to find all of the digimentals to know for sure. If you come to the digital world enough, you'll definitely find them."

Asuka looked at her digivice. She wondered what her partner would be like. She'd already seen so many different types of digimon and she couldn't even imagine how many more were out there. A large growl startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up, expecting to see another digimon attacking them. Instead she saw Veemon and Daisuke looking rather sheepish.

"Evolving really takes it out of me…" Veemon said.

"Yeah, and we haven't eaten since lunch," Daisuke said.

Asuka giggled at the two boys. "I guess we should find that TV then. Hopefully, we can get back home the same way we came here," she said and they began walking down the path again.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so hopefully you all liked this chapter as much as the last. To anyone who might be worrying, Asuka is not a Mary-sue and I have a reason why she is acting the way she is.**

 **Now then, for changes made in this chapter.**

 ***Daisuke and Asuka leave school to study the digivices and end up entering the digital world through different means. I did decide that they would remain in the same general area, because it's the only place that Daisuke can find Veemon. In this instance, there are two separate TVs that lead into the same part of the digital world.**

 ***Although not shown due to self-imposed word limits, the fight between Monochromon and the Chosen Children goes quite differently. Gatomon still has her tail ring, meaning she is at her full power as a champion. Monochromon is a champion level digimon. Some people might think this means that Gatomon should be able to defeat Monochromon. However, looking at it logically, Vamdemon used Gatomon's Holy Ring as the base for the control rings. If the Holy ring increases Gatomon's power (which it must, if losing it practically cuts her power in half), then it's only ogical to assume that on top of allowing the Kaiser to control digimon, the black rings should also give the digimon equipped with them a power boost. This leaves another question of how Fladramon can defeat Monochromon, though. Technically speaking, the digimental does not turn a digimon into a champion level. The digimentals can also give different power levels as seen with the Digimental of Miracles and Magnamon. This being said, I feel the digimentals give the digimon a power boost greater than that of a champion level, but less than that of a perfect level digimon. The reason why the chosen children would choose to have their digimon evolve into champion levels at all, if their digimental forms are more powerful, will be explained later.**

 **Those are the biggest things I feel that needed to be explained. What's going on with Asuka will be explained later (and some of you may have already figured it out).**


End file.
